10th & Cass Residential NRHP District
The Tenth and Cass Streets Residential Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000, the second NRHP residential district in the City of La Crosse. Much smaller than the Cass/King Residential Historic District (1997), the Tenth and Cass Neighborhood is located to the west of the Cass/King Neighborhood and represents residential growth from an earlier time period, closer to the historic commercial downtown area. The Cass and Tenth District covers roughly four city blocks and includes 41 properties built between 1858 and 1940; 33 of which are considered contributing to the historic architectural character of the district.
The Tenth and Cass District developed on the nearly level flood plain about five blocks to the east of the downtown commercial district. As La Crosse grew in the decade before the Civil War, residential development developed on the edge of the business district. The earliest residences in the neighborhood were built in the late 1850s, but most were constructed between 1869 and the mid-1890s. The residences reflected the popular styles of the late 19th century and the neighborhood continues to display some of the best examples of Italianate and Queen Anne style homes in La Crosse. Several of the homes on this tour were completely made-over and “modernized”, indicating rapid changes in tastes and styles in the decades just before and after the turn of the 20th century. Several of the residences were designed by notable La Crosse architects of the late 1800s, and the district was popular with the city’s most prominent industrialists, professionals, businessmen and upper-middle class families from the 1850s to the 1920s.
By the early 20th century many of these prominent La Crosse residents were building further to the east into the current Cass/King Neighborhood. As a result, many of the homes in the Tenth and Cass neighborhood were converted into duplexes or multi-family units. Despite these changes that took place in the neighborhood in the later part of the 20th century, the majority of residences have survived in relatively good condition. Very few of the historically significant dwellings have been lost. In the past two decades a number of the houses in the Tenth and Cass District have been reclaimed and restored as well-kept single-family residences. The district includes eight local La Crosse Historic Landmark properties and two individually listed properties on the National Register of Historic Places. Enjoy your tour of this compact and attractive historic residential neighborhood.
